history Archives — The NCO Guide

The History of the Sergeant Major

March 12, 2018March 10, 2018 Dan Elder

This is from my monograph History of the Sergeant Major first published Jan 2, 1998, highlighted on the NCO History site. The history of the sergeant major extends back to the earliest days of the Army of the United States, but the role that we currently associate with the sergeant major of today is relatively young. Only through continued refinement of... Read More

Inconsistency of writing non-commissioned officer versus noncommissioned officer

February 6, 2018February 6, 2018 Dan Elder

Non-Commissioned Officer vs. Noncommissioned Officer To hyphenate, or not to hyphenate—that is the question at hand today. So there it is, you’re a noncommissioned officer, and now you have to write out your new job title. How do you write it? Is it noncommissioned officer or non-commissioned officer? Some might argue that it simply depends on who you ask. Other,... Read More

History: 1SG Percival G. Lowe, 1828-1908

March 3, 2015January 17, 2018 Dan Elder

This is an excerpt from a paper published by the US Army Sergeants Major Academy as a submission for the General Haines Award for Excellence in Research by CSM Joe Parson, the senior enlisted advisor of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, Fort Eustis, Virginia. This article was in response to a course requirement and completed Oct 15, 2005. This excerpt is reprinted by... Read More

When was the US Army NCO Corps formed?

May 31, 2014January 17, 2018 Dan Elder

I was asked a question recently about the creation of the US Army Noncommissioned Officer Corps. I had to scratch my head for a moment because it was not a question I had heard before. I am a self-declared military historian and I specialize in the history of the NCO. I run the NCO Historical Society to help catalog and archive... Read More

Ontology of NCO as the Backbone of the Army

January 16, 2014March 10, 2018 Dan Elder

Ontology of NCO Soldier’s, Marines, and now captured in the Armed Forces NCO/PO Book, hear told the story of the noncommissioned officer as “the Backbone of the Army,” but where does the phrase come from? It is easy to think how the Backbone holds up the body and understand the correlation, but few realize the phrase was first coined in 1896... Read More